Ball in general, life on the road… on this blog, either you do or you don't.

Are you EMPLOYED, Mr. Leach?

Greetings, all. I am, in fact, still employed and still alive.

Took a couple weeks off at the holidays, then had family matters to tend to last week.

And now I’ve got a bunch of stuff I want to blog about, but it’s always hard to get started again. So I’m starting with this copout post that doesn’t really say anything. In the coming days/weeks/whatever, we’ll touch on the end of the college football season, my music year in review (dang I wish I’d gotten the Foo Fighters album earlier), and of course the Cards.

If you posted a comment you actually wanted ME to read, rather than back-and-forth with other readers, in the past couple weeks, I’ll be honest — I’m probably going to miss it. Not sure I am going to wade through everything from while I was away.

Hahahaha.Too funny! How was you break, dude?Get anything particularly cool for Christmas?A new ipod Nano or something? I got a new Digital Video camcorder. Little bitty thing I can keep in my pocket. It’s cool.
Also how was New Years? I wanted to ask you what you thought about **** Clark still doing New Years’ Rockin’ Eve. I can admire the man for doing it despite the stroke, but I thought it was brutal to watch and listen to. Did you see it? What were your thoughts?

Funny you should say that, Shaun, because the Mrs. and I discussed it and I think I had a very similar reaction.

On one hand,t here was something great about it, something really comforting and encouraging. It’s New Year’s Eve. He’s **** Clark. It’s just supposed to be. On the other, it was sad to see him so clearly not what he once was.

BTW, I got the book “I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski” for Christmas, and read it cover to cover that day. HIGHLY recommended for Achievers.

Hey Matthew, there was a question I posted in on of the Edmonds threads. I wanted your take on it:
“I just thought of something. SD is going to make a trip to BS3 and that means Jimmy will be playing in BS3 as an opponent. Is there anything that the organization has planned for his return? Like a Welcome Back Edmonds day with a pictoral tribute? Sorta like what the Chisox did with the return of Thomas. I think that would be awesome.”

So I see the Brewers picked up Mike Cameron, and Walt has joined the Reds as an advisor. Is there anything else we could do (or NOT do) to help out our divisional opponents? Why don’t we trade Scottie to the Cubs, Dunc to the Reds, and Anks to the ‘Stros? This is beginning to be completely ridiculous. It’s gonna be hard for me to watch Cardinals baseball this year, cause every time we struggle my thoughts will return to how Walt was let go and how Mo has done absolutely NOTHING for this club in the off season (unless by some dumb-luck Clement is better than his old self). Geez, I hope I’m wrong but I think it’s gonna be a long summer by the Mighty Mississip.

1) There were no real impact free agents out there at any position we needed. You might say Lohse or Silva, who are still out there, but they’re really only slightly above-average pitchers, and we’d have to make a 4 or 5 year commitment to them. Mozeliak has avoided any long-term contracts thusfar, which is good, considering 2008 is likely going to be a down year.

2) Clement is a high-risk, high-reward type of signing. He might ****, that’s true. But he might also be very good. If you look at his stats, and especially his peripherals, if healthy, he’s a better pitcher than he gets credit for. If he’s a bust, it’s a short-term deal and it won’t hurt us for 2009 and beyond.

3) The trades: Edmonds and Rolen are both aging veterans who are NOT what they used to be, cannot be counted on for more than about 110 games, and both wanted to go to a different situation. Glaus over the last 3 years has been far superior to Rolen and most defensive metrics put him as at least an average defender(although obviously a downgrade from Rolen).

3) He’s maintained and even bolstered our minor league system. Rasmus is still around and in fact now has at least an outside shot of making the club. Barton stands a chance of playing CF or at least a corner position if Rasmus doesn’t make the team (which I would think the Cardinals organization probably would rather him not-no need to get his service clock going yet with 0 Triple-A ABs in his career.) and the guy we got from SD is a decent prospect with a chance to make the majors eventually. In addition, John Sickels actually ranks our minor-league system much more favorably than St. Louis fans have seen done for quite some years. Mozeliak is only partially responsible for that, but we can credit him for not making any drastic moves and trading away Rasmus for a pitcher with only a couple years left before free agency, like Bedard.

2008 may not give us many reasons for hope. Everything will have to break our way to go over .500, but even if the boys in red struggle, this team is better in 2009 and beyond for Mozeliak’s moves so far.

(As a last note, I’d have to say I’m completely underwhelmed by the glut of 4A middle infielders we’ve now got, whereas Brendan Ryan could have taken SS, and even if he wasn’t any better than Izturis or Miles, he would have been making $400,000 for his mediocrity as opposed to 7 figures.)

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